Yesterday (Sunday July 6th) our President, Leon Duveen, gave the Introduction to the weekly Vigil held by the Notts group of UK Friends of Standing Together, This is what he said:
Another Sunday lunchtime and again we gather here to remember those killed & being killed in the seemingly endless war in Gaza.
Another week where Gazans are killed & wounded trying to collect aid to feed their staving families.
Another week where Israeli soldiers are killed defending what has become indefensible.
Another week where the hostages who remain alive in captivity in Gaza wait for freedom, where their families of the hostages alive or already dead wait for news, wait to welcome or mourn their loved ones.
Another week where the Gazan detainees remain in Israeli captivity, with no idea of when, even if, they will ever be released.
Another week when Jewish Terrorists run amok in the Occupied West Bank destroying Palestinians property, killing & harming Palestinian people, yet are only apprehended when they attack an IDF base.
Another week where all sides talk about the need for negotiations but won’t speak to each other.
Another week when we are here to demand an end to this senseless conflict.
We have seen those who live far from the area chose one side or the other, shout slogans calling for death to this group or another but not facing the consequences of their actions.
We cannot, living here in relative peace, fan the flames of a conflict elsewhere, no more can we let the injustices and inhumanity of that conflict pass without standing together to call for the killing to end.
Peace, Equality, Justice. That is what Standing Together calls for, that is why we gather each week, here in Nottingham,
To show our solidarity with those suffering, Arab or Jew, Palestinian or Israeli, to call for an end to the violence, to call for all to find a better way, to call for all to live together in peace in that land they share.
Neither the Palestinians and nor the Israelis are leaving that strip of land between the Sea & the River, the only hope for peace is that both learn to co-exist alongside each other.
Many years ago, the former British soldier, Wellesley Aron who, amongst much else, helped create the Palestinian-Israeli village Wahat al-Salam / Neve Shalom that exists to show that Arabs & Jews can live together, wrote:
Now co-existence is the condition which results from knowledge based on mutual understanding. This develops from acquaintance and familiarity with respective dreams, prayers, hopes and problems of all involved. These are the fabric of life which guides, directs, and impels the human being towards the things deemed necessary for survival. These elements cannot be guessed at or understood and appreciated except on the basis of experience. . . . If the assumption is true that Peace in its widest, deepest and most meaningful sense can be achieved on the foundations of co-existence then such a foundation must be created.
This is why Standing Together is so important, in building the foundation of co-existence, building the trust between Palestinians & Israelis, overcoming the fear each side has of the other, building the future of Palestine & Israel, alongside each other to create a better future for both
On Friday, I saw this post from the Palestinian peace activist, Samer Sinijlawi, who I met in London earlier this year. He wrote:
For decades, we’ve been told that Israelis and Palestinians are destined to be enemies, locked in an endless cycle of violence.
But what if the real enemy of Palestinians isn’t a people but a feeling? Fear. Fear that makes Israelis see every Palestinian as a threat. Fear that keeps both sides trapped in a war, neither truly wants. Fear that makes peace an increasingly distant prospect.
That fear is, of course, only intensified by rockets and invasions. But it also grows with diplomatic pressure, with boycotts and slogans. It can only be defeated by proving that we are each other’s solution—not each other’s problem.
The people who live this conflict every day understand this better than those watching from a distance. The real work isn’t about forcing change from the outside—it’s about shifting hearts within Israel.
Peace starts when fear is defeated. And we Palestinians can’t wait for others to defeat, and we need to start the first steps to defeat it.
Finally, when I think about the ongoing tragedies in Palestine & Israel, my thoughts often turn to a poem written by Yonatan Gefen over 40 years ago, put to music and sung by David Broza, the grandson of Wellesley Aron, “Yihye Tov” (All Will be Good).
One verse says:
We will yet learn to live together
between the groves of olive trees.
Children will live without fear
without borders, without bomb-shelters.
On graves grass will grow,
for peace and love,
one hundred years of war
but we have not lost hope.
I hope it will not take another 100 years, but sooner, when my friends in both Palestine & Israel can live in peace, side by side.
We can, we must, live in hope!
Between the River and the Sea, may all who live there be Free.